How I Discovered Aerosmith

I recently released an episode for the blockbuster movie Armageddon and through that movie I discovered Aerosmith. You can check out some great trivia and I get into some of the finest scenes of the film. with the link below, but for now I want to write about my journey to find this incredible rock band.

Full disclosure: I wasn’t totally unfamiliar with the rock band Aerosmith growing up in the 80's. I knew of them like I knew about the other rock bands of the era like: Metallica, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Black Sabbath and others. I was, however, only familiar with them in a way that I knew that there was a band called “Aerosmith” and that they played rock music. I knew them in a way that I might hear or see a commercial about a bunch of bands playing at a massive rock concert at the Capital Centre and they’d rattle off the names and Aerosmith would often be one of those names, or the many, many times that I saw those unavoidable and unskippable Columbia House commercials offering twelve cassettes or eight CDs

for a penny. (Yes, I did that).

On the surface it seemed like a good deal at the time . . . especially to a 13 year old.

However, in a weird way I just wasn’t cognizant of the band Aerosmith growing up. Like, I would hear rock songs all the time, and I’d even like some of them, but I never went though the trouble of connecting the song to the artists. I remained clueless even after the biggest clue that a person could get as to who Aerosmith was.

My music genres of choice at the time were R&B, Adult Contemporary, Hip-Hop, Pop and Rap. One of the biggest rap groups in the world at the time was Run-DMC: Joseph “Run” Simmons, Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell, and Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels. Joseph started out as a DJ and had the connections to the music industry by way of his brother Russell. Darryl was the phenomenal writing talent of the group and Jason was, indeed, a master DJ. They formed in Hollis, Queens, New York City in 1983. They eventually signed to Def Jam Recordings and began putting out hit albums like Run-D.M.C. (1984), King of Rock (1985) and Raising Hell (1986).

Jam Master Jay, D.M.C., and Run

When the group was looking for ways to move forward creatively Frederick Jay “Rick” Rubin, the founder of Def Jam, made a radicle suggestion: do a cover song of the song Walk This Way by Aerosmith. The band were extremely resistant to the idea, but Rick Rubin persisted and they eventually recorded the song. Walk This Way by Run-DMC featuring Aerosmith ended up being one of the group’s most popular singles. It peaked at number four on the venerated Billboard Hot 100 list: even higher than the original version. The video for Walk This Way was one of the most dynamic and entertaining music videos that I’d ever seen up to that point.

Walk This Way by Run-DMC featuring Aerosmith written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. Video directed by John Small

It's at this point where I should have been cognizant of Aerosmith, but my focus was on Run-DMC when I watched my TV and I had no ideas who those White boys were. They might’ve been actors for all I knew. Yes, I was that thick headed. No dots connected.

It wasn’t until the 1998 movie Armageddon with an all-star cast, a superstar director and a killer soundtrack that I finally became truly aware of Aerosmith. The hit song that did a significant amount of work that really bound this film to the American consciousness was called I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing. Even outside the movie the song played everywhere and the accompanying music video was mesmerizing. Even on its own this song, written by Diane Warren and Joe Perry (though Perry is uncredited) carries a lot of emotional weight. I can confidently say that through my love of this song I felt that I finally made a connection with the artists and I finally met the band. Formed the year I was born, 1971, Aerosmith includes lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, with Joe Perry and Brad Whitford on guitars.

I Don't Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith written by Diane Warren and Joe Perry. Video directed by Francis Lawrence

After realizing the band I began to make the connections with some of the songs that I like with them and I eventually came back to Walk This Way and coming to the understanding of why they are also referred to as “America’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band”.

(Left to right) Brad Whitford, Joey Kramer, Joe Perry, Steven Tyler and Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith.

Fellas, it’s nice to finally meet you.